A vicious or auspicious cycle: The reciprocal relation between harsh parental discipline and children’s self-regulation

Journal article

Children’s ability to exercise self-regulation is a key predictor of academic, behavioural, and life outcomes, but the developmental dynamics of children’s self-regulation are not adequately understood. We investigated how children’s self-regulation skills and harsh parental discipline reciprocally predict each other across 12,474 children at ages three, five, and seven in the U.K. (Millennium Cohort Study). Cross-lagged structural equation models indicated that high initial levels of harsh parental discipline predicted lower subsequent self-regulation, which then reciprocally predicted higher levels of harsh parental discipline. Conversely, high initial levels of child self-regulation predicted lower subsequent harsh parental discipline. Implications for policy and interventions are discussed.

Authors: Baron, A; Malmberg, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Routledge
• Journal: European Journal of Developmental Psychology
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 302-317
• Publication date: 2017-11-21
• Acceptance date: 2017-10-20
• DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2017.1399875
• EISSN: 1740-5610
• ISSN: 1740-5629
• Keywords: self-regulation; self-control; parent-child relations; parenting